The day Peggy Cassidy's life changed forever began with the birth of a baby. At the ripe old age of sixteen - nearly seventeen - she had seen almost a hundred babies born, and every single birth had been unique.
The Blurb
Can she finally put herself first, in order to find love?
Peggy Cassidy is a milly, working in the Belfast linen mills to just about get by. But Peggy also has another job - a secret one. She works as a handywoman - an illegal midwife, tending to the women of her community in their time of need.
When Peggy is offered the chance to leave Belfast to receive formal midwifery training in Dublin, it sets off a chain of events that will change her life forever.
But amongst her middle-class colleagues, Peggy must keep the truth about her past secret at all times. If the realities of her life in Belfast are revealed, she could lose everything she has worked for.
And when she meets a well-to-do doctor down in Dublin, she must make a decision: should she protect her family and her history? Or can she let herself fall in love?
My Review
I enjoyed this novel, which is set in Belfast, very much.
Peggy is the main character, and she was delightful. She is a fantastic creation who is an honest, intelligent and loyal young woman. Having worked as a handywoman (a form of midwifery that preceded trained midwives in Ireland), when she has the opportunity to train as a registered midwife, she must keep her previous work a secret. Being such an honest person, she struggles with this. Added to this, when she falls in love with a medical student who she knows her family will disapprove of, her loyalty to them is also put to the test.
It was difficult for Peggy to fit into the midwifery course, which is usually only open to middle-class young women from respectable backgrounds. However, Peggy comes from a poor, working-class background. It is testament to her that she is able to fit into this environment, form friendships, and earn respect.
The book has much to say about prejudice on both sides of the class structure. Both have preconceived ideas of the other, and Peggy was a vehicle for breaking down those prejudices to a certain point.
It was a lovely book to read. It was an easy, entertaining and informative novel, which I recommend. It will appeal to fans of the television series, Call the Midwife, as well as to all lovers of historical fiction.
I understand that it is the first in a planned series, and I'm already very keen to read the next one.
Book Details
ISBN: 978 1399747684
Publisher: Hodder
Formats: e-book, audio and paperback
No. of Pages: 416 (paperback)
Series: First book in a new series
Purchase Links
About the Author
Seána Tinley is an Irish author of saga historical romance. She also writes regency romance as Catherine Tinley.
After a career encompassing speech and language therapy, Sure Start, being president of a charity, and managing a maternity service, she now works as NI Country Director for a leading UK charity.
Seána was appointed as chair of the Romantic Novelists’Association in August 2024.
You can also find Seana at:
(ARC and media courtesy of Rachel's Random Resources)
(all opinions are my own)
(Bookshop.org affiliated)
